Clause 16
Greater London Authority Bill
6:30 pm
Jim Fitzpatrick (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Poplar and Canning Town, Labour)
In the unlikely event of there being no Mayor, or his being temporarily unable to act, and the deputy Mayor being unavailable, delegating the Mayor’s budget-setting functions to the chair of the assembly would serve no useful purpose. If the deputy Mayor assumes the Mayor’s budget-setting functions, she will not carry out any of the functions of an assembly member in relation to the budget. If she is unavailable, the assembly itself will fulfil that function, requiring the chair of the assembly to propose a budget, which the assembly itself could amend by a two-thirds majority. That explains the position.
The clause provides an appropriate check and balance in the budget-setting process in the event of the Mayor being temporarily unable to act.